Julia Roberts proves age is just a number

It's the campaign casting we never saw coming: Julia Roberts for Givenchy SS15. Staring down the lens in some of the house's most iconic pieces - including a boxy jacket, white lace shirt, and woman’s tuxedo dress - the series of shots by famed duo Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott ooze understated elegance.

While there's no doubt the campaign went through post-production (they all do), the end result is refreshingly natural; you can see freckles, you can see lines left behind by her trademark megawatt smile, you can see her. There's no doubt the Oscar winner is wearing makeup but its purpose isn't to mask the fact she's 47 - it's to celebrate it.

Givenchy's creative director Riccardo Tisci, who's dressed Roberts for many a red carpet event, made a conscious decision to embrace her natural beauty. “Sometimes, you shoot someone who’s so popular, you try to make it glam, but I really wanted her [Roberts] the way she arrived: black jacket, men’s shirt, jeans...no makeup,” he told Style.com. “For me, the Julia in these pictures is the real one you see every day. They’re really honest portraits of her.”

For her part, Roberts is getting a serious kick out of her ascension to supermodel status as she approaches 50. “My sister and I were actually just on the phone, and we were laughing so hard,” she's said of being tapped as the French fashion house's muse. “She goes, ‘How are you suddenly turned into a supermodel? You’re almost 50.’" Postscript: and fabulous.

What do you think of Givenchy casting Roberts as the face of its SS15 campaign? Leave a comment below.